Use Of State Aircraft By Governors Has A Long History

Criticism of governors’ use of state aircraft dates back decades, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo is the latest to draw scrutiny for travel to and from his Westchester County home.

The Associated Press reported yesterday that Cuomo used state aircraft for 16 flights to or from his home following statewide tours to tout his agenda between January and July. Cuomo’s office has released New York State Police Aviation Unit records to reporters today that show on three occasions—Jan. 19, Jan. 26 and March 22—he took flights directly from Albany to Westchester County Airport. One on trip, Jan. 26, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was aboard because he needed to get back to New York City.

The trips were valid use of state aircraft, Cuomo spokesman Josh Vlasto said, and were for official business. There were no political events attached to any of the trips, which would have required Cuomo to pay back the state for any portion of the trip not part of his official government duties.

Other governors have been ripped for their use of state planes over the years, which was much more abundant.

Cuomo’s office said today that from Jan. 1 to July 15, the first-year governor spent 127 days working in Albany and 91 nights at the governor’s mansion, which is significantly more than recent governors. Three times the plane was used to get back to Westchester. Driven by security detail, Cuomo took 50 trips by car back and forth to his home in New Castle, a total of 6,750 miles.

The state Commission on Public Integrity released new guidelines in 2007. Among the recommendations, it says there “must be a bona fide state purpose for the trip”—which Cuomo’s office says there were.

Barbara Bartoletti, legislative director for the state League of Women Voters, said Cuomo’s use of state aircraft—there’s one plane and two helicopters—appear to be in line with state regulations, citing the mishaps of the past.

“This, I don’t think it climbs to that level at all,” she said. “There’s a lot of other things I could probably bang on Mr. Cuomo for, but this probably wouldn’t be one of them.”

Gov. Hugh Carey, who died earlier this month, was criticized for flying his children on the plane to his summer home on Shelter Island. Cuomo’s father, Mario, was knocked by George Pataki during their 1994 campaign for Cuomo’s use of state aircraft.

But Pataki was soon ripped after he took office in 1995 for using state aircraft.

In fact, a Gannett article in Sept. 1995 said that in 1985, Cuomo’s third year in office, state records showed that the governor’s wife, Matilda, took at least 111 trips on state aircraft. She was the sole occupant on more than 50 of the flights between Albany and New York City.

Pataki, meanwhile, took about 150 flights in the first eight months in 1995, the article stated. Mario Cuomo took at least 328 flights in all of 1985, the article said. Later, as Capital Tonight pointed out today, Pataki took to spending money on chartered flights instead of state aircraft, which drew a whole new round of criticism.

In 2007, Cuomo, then attorney general, investigated use of state aircraft during the Troopergate scandal, in which Gov. Eliot Spitzer was criticized for using State Police to produce travel documents on Senate Majority Joseph Bruno’s use of state aircraft. Cuomo found that Spitzer’s aides had compiled, with help from State Police, and released information about Bruno’s travel in an attempt to damage the GOP senator’s credibility.

The Times Union reported in 2007 that Bruno and his top aides used the state’s fleet 11 times in the first five months of 2007, compared to 19 flights by Spitzer.